Realization And A New Beginning
by Mlie-Redfield
Summary: Takes place a few years after CVX, and before RE4. Main pairing Claire/Carlos. Clare Redfield is walking on a road in the rain, tired and cold. Someone she hadn't expected shows up and "saves the day".
1. A Saviour In The Rain

_A/N: The main-pairing in this fic will be Claire and Carlos. I love that pairing, though I've never seen anyhing written about them before (no wonder, since it's not really a canon-pairing, and they've actually never met before... which makes it an AU-pairing), so I thought I'd give them a real fanfic, which - hopefully - won't be as sad as the chapter they got in "Sorrow". But anyway, feel free to leave comments, but if you don't like this strange new pairing, please don't give me any angry comments for that ^^''' Oh, and big thanks to Ultimolu for beta-reading this n____n And one last thing: I guess you can say that this is inspired by a roleplay I had with yamiishot X3 that roleplay made me love this pairing X3_

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Chaper One: A saviour in the rain

"This can't be happening." Claire Redfield mumbled, irritated and angry that she'd missed the last bus home that evening. She was visiting a friend who lived outside of town, and the hours had just flown away. The two friends relived old memories, and caught up on everything they'd missed about each other lives since last time they'd met.

It was raining, and Claire hadn't brought an umbrella...she hated that seemingly innocent word, ever since the "incident" in Raccoon City a few years earlier. Even though umbrellas were supposed to protect the owner from the rain, the Umbrella Corporation hadn't been protecting the city at all. Instead – the company had created a virus that would let them create the ultimate Bio Organic Weapon, without anyone in the city or outside knowing (though, those who _did_ know was somehow involved with it in some kind of way), and when that virus got out, it turned the poor people in Raccoon City to living dead – mindless flesh-eating zombies. What was even worse than that was the fact that they'd been using human beings and animals as test subjects for their sick experiments, turning them into all kinds of monsters. Though... some of the monsters were created due to the virus outbreak, and they weren't really the friendly kind.

The rain continued to pour, in a seemingly endless and very rapid pace, the raindrops smattering hard against the ground. The wind blew the rain into different directions, worsening by the second. Claire's friend lived too far away from where she was currently standing for her to want to walk all the way back in this weather. Still, it would probably be too late to come knocking at her door anyway. And since it had gotten very dark – it was late, so that wasn't really all that surprising – she didn't want to go back into the forest she'd just made it out from. Her brother Chris had told her all about the creatures in Raccoon Forest... She was far away from the little that remained of what used to be Raccoon City, but one could never be too sure. Who knows when Umbrella might let another virus loose somewhere, to get rid of those who knew all about their activities, so why not here, in this forest? She shook that thought away quickly, concentrating once more on the current situation.

Knowing that she didn't have any better option, she sat down by the bus-stop sign, letting the rain fall down on her freely. At least she couldn't get anymore wet than she already was. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't come up with a plan that was good enough. After all, she was sitting on a sand road, in the outskirts of a big and dark forest, far away from town, in a pouring rain. What could you possibly do in that kind of situation? She was cold, soaking wet and tired. The only thing she actually could do – at least the only thing her tired mind could come up with – was to at least try to walk all the way back to the city, to Chris's apartment. Walking had been her plan from the start, though the boots she was wearing weren't made for walking a long way in pouring rain, with the ground becoming muddy, her boots getting stuck way too many times. That all made her mood go down quickly. She should've taken her bike instead, if it hadn't been for the fact that it needed to be fixed, it needed several small reparations. Her brother was working somewhere out of town, and besides, Claire hadn't expected the rain to come so suddenly.

After a long walk, she finally came to one of the big roads leading to her new home-town, and she decided that there wasn't anything else she could do. She would have to walk the whole way in this horrible weather. Well, at least this road was paved, so it'd be a bit easier than the muddy ground on the road in the forest. Her feet hurt, but she'd have to deal with it. At least she came closer to her destination with each step she took. Wasn't much of an encouragement, but it was still better than nothing, and it worked to make her situation feel a little less hellish. She sighed deeply. If her cell phone-battery hadn't died, she could've at least tried to get someone, _anyone_, to pick her up, if only it meant she wouldn't have to walk the _whole_ way. Her clothes weren't really the best you could wear in this kind of weather, but since the sun had been shining when she left, she hadn't even thought that it would start to rain this suddenly, especially not when she'd gotten halfway from her friend's house, and there was no point in turning back.

Suddenly, as if someone had heard her desperate thoughts, a small blue car slowed down beside her. The road she was on was rarely used, since people seemed to rather take other ways to get to the city – the road wasn't one of the best ones, really – so she was a bit surprised when this car suddenly showed up. She'd never seen that car before, at least she didn't recognize it, but she stopped anyway, waiting for the driver to reveal his or her identity – she couldn't see through the glass, there were too many raindrops. The window was rolled down, and when she realized who it was, her face lit up with a big, bright smile, and all of her worries seemed to disappear. And of course, her smile was met by a smile, from someone she didn't know all that well, but if destiny could have it's way, that was soon going to change.

"Hola chica, need a ride?"

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_Aaaand that was the first chapter. It won't take too long before I get the second up too, though it still needs to be fixed a bit more ^^ Hope you enjoyed this fanfic, and hopefully, the pairing too... though... this fic hasn't stated "for real"... Well, that's all I had to say for now, so... until next time n______n_


	2. Unwanted Explanation

_A/N: Here's chapter 2! ^^ I've decided that this fanfic takes place in the autumn of 2002__ – which will be four whole years after the "incident" in Racoon City, and a few things have really changed since then. Read, and you'll find out what X3_

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Chapter 2: Unwanted Explanation

On the way to Carlos Oliveira's apartment, Claire had told him everything about her situation, why she had been walking on a road in the rain in the middle of the night. The rest of the time, they'd both been quiet, neither of them could come up with something good to say. Claire had been looking out through the side-window, lost in her thoughts, letting her mind wander freely, thinking about her past. Those thoughts were seldom happy ones nowadays. Not after her encounters with Umbrella and their experiments. And Carlos had of course kept his eyes on the road ahead of them, fully concentrated of what he was doing. The raining made the asphalt wet, and it was always a good idea to be prepared for anything that might happen, when the road was well prepared to fool you.

Now though, they were sitting by the small table in his kitchen, drinking a cup of tea. Claire had changed from her own wet and cold clothes to a pair of grey pants and a big black t-shirt that Carlos had lent her. When they were all alone like this, it really showed that they actually didn't know anything about each other. Sure, they were co-workers, but that was it. Though... who said that things couldn't change? It was all just a matter of trying, and at least giving it a chance.

"Um..." Claire started, a bit nervously, though she didn't know what she was nervous about. They were simply like strangers, and there wasn't anything to lose, really. "...Nice apartment you have..." She could've slapped herself twice for what she'd just said, but she couldn't think of anything better at the moment, and besides, it was only to break the silence. She hoped that Carlos would try to make it a bit less awkward too...

Carlos nodded slowly. "It's mostly just a place to calm down and relax between missions, so it's more than enough for me." The small apartment only consisted of one bedroom, a small kitchen, and an even smaller bathroom, and a medium-sized living-room. Claire would be sleeping on the couch. "But Claire, I really think that you should call Chris, let him know where you are. I'm sure he'll be more worried if he doesn't know, than he'd be if he'd find out you're here." he grinned.

Claire sighed. "I guess you're right... He sure worries a lot. I don't think he realizes that I'm not a child, he's being way too overprotective of me." Though deep inside, she was sure that Carlos words wouldn't turn out to be true. When it came to Chris, it was sometimes better to not tell the whole truth.

"I know what you mean..." Carlos mumbled. "The phone is on the table in the living room." he said as he took away the two cups to put them in the sink.

He seemed like he wasn't giving up, it was like he was practically _forcing_ her to make the call. Realizing that it was a "fight" she couldn't win, Claire stood up, and walked towards the living room. Carlos had given her a little tour when they'd first arrived at the apartment. On the way to the living room, she walked past her wet boots as she went through the hallway. The boots had been so wet that even her socks had been wet right through. She almost could've poured the water out from them. Her shirt and jeans had looked pretty much the same, and she was very happy to finally be inside. The rain was still falling as violently as earlier.

"Hello?" Chris said as he answered the phone. It was obvious that he hadn't recognized the number - she was calling from Carlos's phone, after all - and Claire was sure that that was the reason why he'd taken so long to pick up.

"Hi Chris, it's me." she replied, sitting down on the couch, pulling up her legs, sitting cross legged. She was still feeling a little bit cold, and tried to warm her feet in a good way.

"Claire? Where are you?" he sounded worried. But then again, why wouldn't he be worried? It was almost in the middle of the night on a Friday, and she called with a number he'd probably never encountered before. Who knew what he could be thinking... Though no matter what it was, he'd probably be calmer to hear the truth anyway. She knew from experience that Chris's imagination could come up with a lot of unexpected and odd reasons for what she was doing. This wouldn't be an exception, and it'd soon turn out to be true.

"I... um... I'm...."she sighed, and then took a deep breath. _Better to get it said quickly..._ His reaction wouldn't change just because she waited longer to tell him. She knew that all too well, he'd always been like that. "Chris, I'm with Carlos..." she moved the phone just a little bit away from her ear, all too aware of what some of her brother's possible reactions could be.

"What?!" Chris almost shouted that little word out, and Claire took another deep breath, putting the phone back to her ear once again. "But... weren't you going to visit Amy today?" Chris continued. He seemed to have calmed down a little, and Claire couldn't help but wonder if Chris's partner, Jill Valentine, had something to do with it. Claire grinned. Those two sure were something special. They'd been partners during the Mansion-incident – the first time Umbrella lost control of their T-virus – and even though it was only work-partners, Claire had always suspected that there were something more between them, so it wasn't that much of a shock to her when they both got married.

"Yeah, I did, but when I was on the way to your apartment, _walking_, because I missed the bus. Surprise, huh? It started to rain, and just as I'd given up all of my hopes of getting home any time soon, Carlos - who was on the way home too - stopped and asked if I wanted a ride back to town." she spoke quickly. She wanted this conversation to end before her brother would get a chance to get extremely angry at her, which would surely happen eventually, even if Jill was with him.

At least no one could miss the fact that Chris cared about his younger sister, which often led to moments like this, when he was being too overprotecting. Being his little sister was seldom easy. And at times like this one, when Claire only came to visit him, and they hadn't seen each other for at least a few weeks – Claire lived in a completely different city, continuing her studies, and trying to live a normal life, or at least as close to "normal" as their lives could get at this point, but not too far away so he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on her – he seemed to be even more caring about her than usually.

"And you said _yes_?" Chris sighed heavily, mumbling things she couldn't hear. "Well, at least that's better than being alone on those roads... Wait a minute, are you calling from a hotel? Why aren't you at home?" He still referred to his apartment as her "home", even though she didn't do it anymore. Chris had been the one who took care of both her and himself when both their parents passed away. It hadn't been that easy, but they'd made it.

"Chris, listen to me. I forgot to bring my key, and I'm _not_ at a hotel. I already told you, I'm with Carlos." _Here is comes..._ The phone was again moved away from her ear, and she prepared herself for another loud shouting for Chris.

And just as she'd suspected, that was exactly the way he reacted. "In his apartment?!"

"You know you can't tell me what to do anymore, Chris!" she, too, had raised her voice, but it was ar from as loud as Chris's. She didn't like screaming at her brother, but sometimes, she just couldn't help it. At least not when he was screaming at _her_.

Her brother was silent for a long time, though Claire could still hear voices – almost like whispers – coming from the phone. It was obvious that Chris was covering the mouthpiece with his hand to talk with Jill. "Okay, fine." He was back on the phone again, a lot calmer than before. "I can't pick you up anyway, so promise you'll call me first thing in the morning, and I'll come as soon as I can, okay? And Claire... think twice before you act, or three or four times, it doesn't matter. You know I'll still be worried, and I just can't help it."

"Okay... see you tomorrow, good night." She was too tired to argue more with him. She'd told him where he was, and that's what she'd planned to do. Nothing more. She'd barely even listened to his last words, only paying attention to what had come before that. For her, the conversation was over before he'd said those words.

"Night Claire-Bear." He replied softly. He'd called her that ever since they were kids. She'd gotten used to him calling her that, and she thought it was a cute nickname. She hadn't managed to come up with a good one for Chris, but she'd sure tried.

She hung up the phone, and returned to Carlos in the kitchen. He was looking at the rain through the small window, and saw her reflection in it when she entered the room.

"What did he say, how'd it go?" he asked.

"Well..." Claire began. "He told me to call him first thing in the morning, and he'll pick me up. And–"

"Wait, he's on a nightshift, and he rather wants to drive you home than to get some sleep?" Carlos interrupted. "I have a car too, you know..."

Claire nodded. "Yeah, I know that. But I also know my brother. Though, it's no wonder he's worried about me after what happened at Umbrella's Antarctic base..." she trailed off, and her thoughts once again wandered back to those horrible events four years earlier.

Carlos watched her, seeing her expression change, and she suddenly looked like she was very close to tears. Though, she blinked them away, probably hoping that he hadn't noticed. Her brother's words in that extra-sentence after the "pick you up"-part had made her think about something that hadn't really occurred to her before – mostly because she hadn't listened to what he said, and it wasn't until now that the words came back to her. _Think twice before you act._ Chris knew what she felt about losing Steve Burnside – the guy she'd met on Rockfort Island, who'd later died in her arms at the Antarctic base – since he'd been the one to comfort her after that. But did he really think that she and Carlos would –

She shook away that thought before she could even finish it.. It couldn't possibly be true, could it? Carlos was Carlos, not Steve. But... could she allow herself to ever move on, to put Steve Burnside behind, and focus more on the future? It had already gone four years..."I guess that's what older brothers are for..." she said, and shrugged. What was she thinking? She couldn't possibly consider thinking about Carlos in _that_ way, could she? But no matter how hard she tried to think, to find an explanation, she knew that the seemingly easy and innocent question wouldn't get an answer anytime soon...

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_Chapter three is about half-finished right now, and I'll do my best to update soon ^^ Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter~_


	3. Home Sweet Home

_A/N: I finally uploaded it, woo! Has taken a lot of time, I need to stop being this lazy... XD I don't know when the next chapter will be up though, it's not finished yet, so... yeah. Hope you'll enjoy this one anyway~_

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Chapter 3: Home Sweet Home

After a long night of endlessly shifting sleeping-positions, Claire woke up at around 9am the following morning on the gray couch in Carlos's small living room, exhausted and sore. She yawned, rubbing at her tired eyes. She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep, so she was still very sleepy. She sat up slowly and blinked a few times, trying to get more awake than she actually was. She cast a quick glance at the clock on the wall, deciding that it was time to call Chris and get ready to go home before he got a chance to worry himself sick for her.

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When she'd made the call, she went to get her clothes from the radiator by the window, but they were still wet. She sighed. It sure had been a heavy pour down this time.

"Good morning, Claire." Carlos greeted her from the doorway. "Did you sleep well on the couch? I know it's not the best of all places..."

"Morning." Her reply began, looking over at him, smiling. "I slept alright, the couch was actually rather comfy... My own clothes are still wet from the rain, so would it be okay if I kept these on until I get home..." she pointed at the clothes she was currently wearing, which Carlos had lent her. "...and return it to you later?"

"Of course." Carlos said, nodding. That's not a problem at all. Do you want to eat some breakfast now? The coffee won't be finished in a few minutes though..."

"Sure, thanks. I called Chris a few minutes ago, and he's on his way over here."

"I hope he knows where I live." He grinned.

"Yeah, me too." The youngest Redfield replied as she put her hair back into her usual high ponytail. "He didn't ask for any directions, which isn't really that much of a surprise." She followed Carlos to the kitchen, and once again, she sat down by the small table, doing the last adjustments on the ponytail. She'd put her hair up like that for so many times now that she didn't even have to think about what she was doing. Still, she didn't want to change it to another type of hairdo. She'd gotten very used to it, and she loved the freedom that came with having all of her hair back like that, and only her short bangs came close to her face.

She had just enough time to eat a single sandwich and drink a cup of coffee before the doorbell rang impatiently. She knew even before Carlos opened it that it was her brother who was standing on the other side, and with a quick glance at Carlos, she could tell that she wasn't alone with that thought.

"Hello, Chris." Carlos's greeting confirmed her thoughts. It was time to go home, and see how Chris would really deal with the situation, once they were alone and he could say what he wanted witout embarrassing her.

"Hi..." Chris mumbled tiredly, and the single word was followed by a big yawn. He was surely too tired to drive, but with the Redfield siblings' individual stubbornness, Claire knew that there wasn't any point in trying to argue with him. Though, when she walked into the hallway, her brother smiled. "You kept me up the whole night, Claire. I couldn't sleep for even a minute." Another yawn. Claire grinned at her brother, thinking that he was the one to blame here, since she hadn't told him to stay up - it had been his own choice. She'd be sure to keep that fact close in her mind if there would eventually be a question-and-answer-time about the previous evening.

"Thanks for everything, Carlos. I really appreciate it." The redhead said as she was about to follow her brother out the door.

The man nodded. "No problem at all. See you another time."

---

"I'm going to go to bed now, I'm really tired and exhausted." Chris said as soon as they entered his own apartment. The sentence was followed by yet another yawn, and Claire didn't doubt that he'd actually stayed up all night just as he'd said. She'd taken it mostly as a joke at first, but it was obvious now that he'd told her the truth.

"Me too..." Claire mumbled, putting the bag with her own still very wet clothes on the floor by the door, and headed off for the room that was her bedroom when she came to visit her brother. She felt a bit bad for keeping him awake for so long after a tough nightshift, but she still thought that it was his own fault for worrying way too much about her. He had to realize that she could take care of herself just fine, that she wouldn't have another breakdown... The whole situation with Steve had been very hard on her, in a lot of different ways. And no matter how much she kept wishing that the outcome would've been different, she had to get over it and live her own life. Something that Chris couldn't seem to understand...

But she figured that it was only because he loved her, and even if it could get too much some times, she could understand him, and what he must be thinking, worrying about her getting depressed again. And of course, Claire was glad that she had a brother who cared so much about her, even if she didn't show it all that often.

She sat down on the bed, tired, but not nearly enough so to be able to sleep just yet. Though... there _was_ actually something she could do to keep herself busy long enough for her to get more tired. She hurriedly got up from the bed, and went over to the phone on the desk on the opposite side of the room, next to the door, which she quietly closed when she'd dialed the number, then sat down on the chair. She had a bad habit of walking around while talking on the phone, an she didn't want to disturb her obviously exhausted older brother.

"Claire!" Amy said happily when she finally picked up the phone. "Did you get my e-mail? Sent it to you when I saw you weren't online, and I got worried that something might've happened to you..."

"Hello, Amy. I haven't had time to be on the computer yet, I got home only a few minutes ago." Chris's apartment would always be Claire's second home, a place she was always welcome to, no matter what time of the day it was. As long as she had her key, of course.

"You got home _now_? What have you been doing!?"

"Yeah... I missed the last bus to town when I was on the way back there from you. Did you see how much it was raining? I was caught right in the middle of it since I had to walk home, and I swear, I wasn't far from looking as if though I'd jumped into a swimming pool. Though, I only managed to reach the 'drowned cat-stage'. I guess the rain just wasn't wet enough." They both laughed, and Claire did her best to not laugh too loud, which was a lot easier said than done.

"I'm not really that surprised that you missed the bus Clairey, not at all. But... since you didn't get home until now, I just have to ask... did you walk the whole way, or did you decide to actually take a dive in someone's pool on the way? Man, if you walked the whole way, I'd rather call you a turtle than a cat."

"You're always so nice, Amy." Claire grinned, and her tired mind soon realized that her friend couldn't see that through the phone. "And no, believe it or not, I didn't borrow anyone's pool, and I didn't walk the whole way home here either. When I finally got out to the road, Carlos drove by and picked me up, and –"

"Carlos? A guy?!" Amy almost screamed, interrupting her in the middle of the sentence. "Um... you knew him from before, right? Don't want you jumping into cars with total strangers...."

Claire chuckled. "Yeah, I did know him from before, or at least kind of. He was in Raccoon too..." Amy knew about the situation that had occurred in Raccoon City a few years earlier, almost everyone did nowadays. The evil company Umbrella's secrets had all been exposed. Or... at least that's what everyone thought, and maybe even hoped... Chris had warned his sister not to talk about Umbrella or Raccoon with anyone except for the few survivors from the disaster, he didn't even allow her to tell all of the details to Amy. Claire feared that he'd gotten slightly paranoid since his very first encounters with Umbrella's monsters. Though, who was she to blame him? Sure, she'd been in Raccoon City during the time of its destruction, and it had been horrible, to say the least, but it was nowhere near as horrible as what her brother had been through. He'd lost his co-workers, his _friends_, and there hadn't been anything he could've done about it...

"Listen, I just wanted to tell you that I got home safely. I'm going to try and get some sleep now... Bye, Amy." When she'd hung up, she sighed. She trusted Amy, she really did, and she always had. But Chris was right, to ensure the safety of their friends who weren't involved in any way, they couldn't give them too much information. No one knew exactly what Umbrella's former employees were capable of doing. They'd destroyed a whole town before, and Claire was afraid they'd do it again. Umbrella would always be their true enemy.

---

Carlos sighed when he'd closed the door behind the Redfield-siblings. He couldn't stop thinking about Claire's sad face the evening before, when she'd mentioned the Antarctic base that had been controlled by Umbrella. Carlos knew about the outbreak that had occurred there, but he didn't know the details of what Claire had been through, since neither of the two Redfields had mentioned it. Carlos figured it might be better to ask Chris about it, since Claire had almost started to cry by just mentioning it briefly. Asking her to explain everything would surely only make it worse, it was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it.

But since Chris had been working a nightshift, Carlos was going to wait at least a few hours before he called him. And once he actually did, he'd get the real explanation, and it would surely be far from what he himself thought had happened. But of course, it would lead to him getting to understand the youngest Redfield a little bit better.

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_Chapter 3. Don't have anything else to say, other than that I've changed the plot a little, so I'll have to do some serious thinking of how to continue.... Anyways, we'll see how that'll turn out ^^'''_


	4. Beginning Of The Nightmare

_A/N: After rewriting this a few times, I think I finally came up with a version I could upload. Life's been busy lately x.x Hope you'll like this chapter~_

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Chapter 4: Beginning Of The Nightmare

"No wonder she doesn't want to talk about it then…" Carlos mumbled to himself when he'd hung up the phone after talking with Chris, who'd told him what had happened at the Antarctic. Though, he hadn't told him exactly everything – Carlos was sure that he'd left out some of the details. But now, he knew at least little about Steve Burnside, and he knew what Claire had been through, both together and without that boy. Carlos could understand her sorrow and her feelings, what it must've been for her to lose him the way she had, and so suddenly. He almost wanted to hug her, to comfort her, tell her that everything was going to be okay as time went by, but he wasn't sure where those feelings were coming from. It had all happened too fast for him to be able to keep up with it. Carlos sighed, leaning back on the couch, closing his eyes, mumbling to himself. The events that would change their lives dramatically once again had just barely began to get started...

Carlos turned on the TV, mostly to break the silence in his small and lonely apartment, and went out into the kitchen to make himself some coffee. He hadn't slept all too well the night before either, it had been a little more than a week since he'd been able to fully relax and enjoy a full night's sleep. It was almost as if his mind was somehow worrying about something, but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out what it could be. That couldn't be a good sign. Something on the TV caught his attention, and he rushed back into the living room, turning up the volume a bit more.

"...in the park. The police are comparing these victims with those from a somewhat similar situation that happened a few years ago, but they refuse to give us any further information about it." The news reporter was done talking, and the sports-reporter came into view. Though, this was of no interest for Carlos at the moment. He muted the TV, picked up his phone yet again, and just as he was about to dial the Redfields' number, the phone rang.

"Did you watch the news?!" Jill Valentine said even before he got a chance to say 'hello'.

"Yeah, but only the last few seconds of it, about the police not wanting to give away any information. What did I miss?"

"Carlos, you have to get here _now_, we're calling everyone from the group, and we're having a meeting about this, we need to decide on what to do. See you when you get here." She was about to hung up.

"Jill wait, where's 'here'?" Carlos hoped he wouldn't be too late, that she would still hear him.

"Chris's apartment. Hurry up."

---

As soon as he'd arrived to the apartment, following the directions Jill had given him, he realized that what he'd unknowingly been worrying about had to be connected to the news somehow. Just that sentence made him worried. He really didn't want to be around if ay of those viruses ever gt out again. He'd survived once, but it had sure been a challenge. Jill opened the door for him, and motioned for him to follow her.

"It can't have been an outbreak." Claire said. The others were already there, and they were all sitting in the living room – Claire, Chris, Jill, Rebecca and Billy. "If it was, _everyone_ would've been infected with whatever virus it was that caused this by now, right?"

"You're right about that, Claire." Jill agreed, as she and Carlos entered the room.

"I didn't even know that there was an Umbrella facility or laboratory around here. It has to be Umbrella's doing, right?" Carlos said, looking around for somewhere to sit. There wasn't any room left on the couch. "I mean, if it _was_ an outbreak, of course. If there are other companies who have begun to take after Umbrella, we're in big trouble." Jill mumbled that she'd get him a chair, and came back only moments later. He sat down, thanking her, and she sat down next to Chris on the couch again.

"Especially if we're the only ones who'll fight them." Billy said. Carlos didn't know the man's whole story, but he knew that he'd been accused for murdering as many as 23 people, even though he'd been innocent. After the transport vehicle that was going to take him to his execution had crashed, he'd met Rebecca, and they'd managed to escape from an outbreak together. Though, in the end, they'd split up. Rebecca had gone to meet up with the rest of the survivors from the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team, and Billy had no other choice but to run away. He was still a wanted criminal back then, and hadn't been too much of a fan of the idea to meet up with the rest of the elite team. Things had eventually calmed down for him, and as far as Carlos knew, Billy had been freed from the false charges.

"Well, since Leon is away on a mission somewhere in South America, we'll have to do the best of what we've got." Rebecca said. Carlos couldn't help thinking that _he_ would've been better off on a mission like that than Leon, since Carlos spoke Spanish fluently, and had done it his whole life. He doubted Leon would be able to handle it as good as him, since he was a trained soldier. He wasn't all too sure what it was that Leon was doing, but he knew that by the time of the Raccoon City-outbreak, he'd been a regular cop.  
"I sure hope it'll be enough for whatever is coming our way.." Claire said.

The discussion about what to do went on for another thirty minutes, and they all agreed that they had to investigate this whole matter by themselves, in order to find out the truth about what was going on. But the most important thing was to be careful, they didn't want to have Umbrella after them again. Or any other evil companies either, for that matter... From now on, things would yet again become difficult to get through, for all of them. This was only the beginning of their next nightmare.


	5. Searching For The Truth

_A/N: I finally stopped being lazy, and decided that it was time to upload this chapter ^^''' Thanks goes to S.T.A.R. for beta-reading it for me ^^ Hope you'll like this chapter~_

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Searching For The Truth**

Leon Kennedy had left his roomy minivan at home when he'd gone away to South America for a mission, and he'd given the keys to Chris. The eight-seat car was big enough for all six of them and everything that they might need for the upcoming mission. Chris was driving, and Jill sat next to him. Billy was sitting in the seat behind Chris, Rebecca in the middle, and Claire behind Jill. Carlos sat behind her in the far back of the minivan.

Claire and Rebecca had quickly become friends – they were around the same age, and they had a lot of things in common. Though, Claire hadn't gotten a chance to finish college before she became one of Umbrella's enemies, while Rebecca had both graduated from college and gotten a job. She was a great medic, and Claire felt safer having her around.

Everyone in their group had had real weapon training, since they were either former members of Raccoon City's Special Tactics And Rescue Squad – the STARS – or involved with that kind of training in other ways, except for Claire. Jill, Rebecca and Chris had been with the STARS, Leon had been a cop but was now some kind of agent – Claire hadn't gotten any more information about what he was doing – Billy was a former Marine, and Carlos had been a mercenary, who'd been sent to Raccoon as part of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service – the U.B.C.S. They were told to rescue the civilians, but they hadn't gotten any information at all about the situation in the city. Claire's only experience with guns before Raccoon's destruction had been when she'd gone to shooting ranges with Chris. She'd sure had a good use of what he'd taught her there.

Right now, the six of them who were in the minivan were on their way to the park that they'd heard about on the news earlier, and Claire was afraid of what might come. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to go through another outbreak, another horrible nightmare like the one in Raccoon. But if it wasn't zombies that had caused this, what had? Those zombie-dogs? Something even worse? She didn't want to think about it.

The memories from Rockfort Island and the Antarctic Base once again came into her mind, and she didn't want to push them away, she didn't want to forget. She didn't know what she would do if she ever forgot about Steve. He'd been her only friend at a time when she needed one the most, and they'd gotten close to each other during the short time they'd know each other. So close that Steve had used his last few breaths to tell Claire what he felt about her. Forgetting him would be like giving up, like admitting defeat. That Umbrella had won. She was sure she'd meet him again, some day. His body had been taken away by someone after all... She just hoped that he wouldn't return as an enemy.

A tear trickled down her face slowly, and Rebecca glanced over at her. "Are you okay?" the medic whispered.

Claire nodded in reply, wiping at the few tears that were dampening her face. "It's... nothing." She hated calling Steve 'nothing', but she wanted to pretend to be stronger than she was for the moment. Having to go through that nightmare alone would have been even more horrible, so wishing that she'd never met him was out of the question.

Rebecca gave her a comforting smile, whispering "Even if it's nothing, it's still worth mentioning if it makes you cry..."

"Yeah, you're right..." Claire whispered in reply. "I'm... just not in the mood to talk about it right now..."

"I see." Rebecca said, nodding. "I'm here when you want to talk." She turned around, listening to something Billy said to her. They had both been in an outbreak together, and they could talk to each other to help put everything behind them. Chris and Jill could talk about the mansion that had been full of death-traps, and Jill and Carlos could talk about the outbreak in Raccoon City. Right now, Claire didn't have that luxury. Steve was dead, so the hardest parts of the most recent outbreaks she'd been involved with would remain an excruciatingly bad memories that would make her nightmares even worse. Sure, Chris had been there with her when Steve died, but he hadn't been in the same room. They did still have the final moments of Antarctica together, but that was not what she really needed to talk about. Since Leon was away in South America, there was no one left to discuss the happenings in the police station with.

Thinking about her adventure in Raccoon only brought back memories of Sherry Birkin – a girl who'd been only 12 years old at that time. Both of her parents had been working a lot, and hadn't been spending enough time with there lonely daughter. Claire had saved her from a zombie in the station when they first met, and Claire had made a promise to protect her from all kinds of danger. But she'd failed – after the destruction of Raccoon, Sherry had been taken away from her, and Claire had no idea where she was at the moment. She really hoped that she was alright...

* * *

When Carlos realized – with the help of Rebecca's comforting words and behaviour – that Claire was crying silently, he reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, and leaned forwards. It was the only thing he could do from his seat. "Don't cry, Claire..." he whispered to her. Once again, the feelings of protection washed over him. He really couldn't stand the fact that he couldn't do more for her. He leaned back again, sitting up in his seat. There wasn't too much room for Carlos in the back, since the two remaining seats had been replaced by their packing. But it was enough room for him and his thoughts.

* * *

The minivan came to a stop, and Chris turned around in his seat, making sure that everyone could hear him. "Alright, we've reached the park, now we need to come up with a plan for what to do next." He looked at all of them, stopping a little longer when he came to Claire, who turned away her face once their eyes met. "Our options are the following – we can can drive around the area, staying in the minivan the whole time. Or, we could split up – some stay in the car while the rest go by foot, or we all get ready for a walk. This _is_ a big park..."

"If we separate into two groups and keep in touch, we'll cover more ground, and we'll be done faster." Carlos said after some thinking. "Still, we shouldn't be too far away from each other in case something happens..."

"Right." Jill said. "But if something _does_ happen, we need to be able to get away quickly. Which means we'll need the car..."

"Or we can just park it in a good place, and not wander too far away from it." Billy said.

There sure were a lot of things to consider in this matter. The minivan gave them more safety than walking, but it could also make the possible enemies aware of their position easier. To Carlos, this felt similar to a war-like situation, and he sure didn't like it. He thought he'd put all of that behind him when he quit the U.B.C.S.

"I agree with Billy." Rebecca said, "the faster we can get away from possible danger the better."

Chris nodded. "Okay, so we split into two groups and leave the car. Everyone okay with that? Good." He wasn't too fond of the idea of leaving people behind while the rest went to investigate. He'd had bad experience with that earlier – like when they'd first found Bravo team's helicopter in Raccoon Forest, and Kevin Dooley had been killed while staying by the helicopter. Not too long after that, Alpha team's pilot Brad Vickers who'd been staying behind in _their_ helicopter, flew away on his own, and leaving the rest of the team in danger. Now, there was still one important thing to take care of – deciding the groups. Rebecca and Claire were the ones with the least combat experience, so the best thing would be to put them in different groups. The rest of them were all very good shots, but Chris figured he and Billy would be best as leaders for these temporary groups. After all, Chris wanted to be in the same group as Jill. When he'd made his decision, he spoke again. "Jill and Claire, you both follow me. Rebecca and Carlos, you go with Billy. Any comments about that?"

* * *

To be honest, Carlos wasn't too happy with the groups since he and Claire were in different ones, but he kept quiet about it. Aside from Jill, Claire was the only one he knew at least a little bit better than the rest. He was sure that he'd be the third wheel in this group... But he wouldn't have to worry about Claire, Chris could and would take good care of her. "The groups sound just fine." His words were the exact opposite of what he felt.

"Then let's go." Jill said, and they all got out of the car, grabbing their equipment – holsters, bags, weapons, ammo – anything they might need, but hopefully wouldn't have to use. After some instructions from Chris, the two groups headed different ways, and Carlos casted one last glance at Claire and her group before they were lost in the shadows of the small forest.

After a walk that felt like it had lasted for hours instead of minutes, and without finding any clues or anything what so ever – they were searching every little space very thoroughly – Rebecca spoke. "Um... I think you'd better see this, guys..."

* * *

_A/N: Sorry if this was a bit short ^^''' Anyways, I'll start writing more on the next chapie when I've got more time ^^' To be continued n___n  
_


	6. False Alarm?

_A/N: Here it is, a new chapter of RAANB ^^ Hope you'll like it!_

* * *

**  
Chapter 6 - False Alarm?  
**

The chill wind blew slightly, almost nothing more than a breeze, in the early July-evening. Claire looked around her, taking in the surroundings in the big and quiet park, with the big forest next to it. After what had been on the news earlier, she wasn't surprised that there weren't a lot of people in the area. Thanks for the light from the sun – even though it was beginning to slowly set – she didn't need a flashlight. There weren't a lot of shadows for anyone- or anything – to hide in. At least not in the park-area… She glanced at the forest. The trees casted long shadows on the grass in front of them. The sun went farther down behind them, changing those shadows ever so slightly.

A quiet beeping could be heard, and Chris picked up his radio. "Chris here, over."

"Chris, it's Rebecca. We haven't found anything special yet, how are things on your end? Over."

Claire let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Maybe there wasn't anything virus-related at all… The two groups had gone in different directions, and Claire figured they were somewhere on the other side of the forest.

"Same for us." Chris replied to Rebecca. "If we're lucky, we might head back home soon again. Over and out."

* * *

"I think you'd better see this, guys…" Rebecca had said, and Carlos and Billy both made their way to her position, just by the edge of where the park turned into forest, looking down at what she was kneeling beside.

"So I guess this place isn't as dangerous at all then." Billy said. "Poor dog, though."

"Yeah…" Rebecca replied. "So I guess the 'victims' they were talking about were stray and seemingly owner less dogs being killed like this. If I'm not mistaken, something like this _did_ happen a few years ago too."

"We've all gotten quite paranoid lately." Carlos said, grinning. "If the police hasn't seen this one yet though, think we should inform them?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Rebecca said. "I'm just going to inform Chris about this, and then we can return back home."

Carlos wasn't too fond of the idea of heading home, without getting a chance to talk with Claire some more before they split up for now. Who knew when they'd see each other again? Chris had made it pretty clear the first time they'd all gotten together, a few months after Raccoon, that Carlos should better stay away from his sister when he'd first been flirting a little with her. Back then, Carlos had just decided that there was no use tying to go for Jill, what with her having Chris as an almost-boyfriend anyway. No one had been surprised when they later announced that they were dating. Back then, the first group-meeting was the first time he saw Claire. Chris's protective behavior for her might have something to do with the fact that Carlos had moved his interest from Jill to Claire so quickly – not that he hadn't been going from woman to woman that quickly before. But this had been different, Claire was different.  
He'd stayed away from her though, not wanting to make Chris angry. Claire had only been 19 at the time after all, so he could understand why Chris had been so protective. Especially since it had been only weeks since her adventure at Rockfort and the Antarctic base. If only he'd know that at the time… He hoped he could make up for it sometime. He didn't want to lose her.

"Let's go back." Rebecca said when she'd contacted Chris on the radio. "We'll meet up with them by the mini van."

"Okay." Billy said, and they began to walk. "Hey, Carlos, you coming?"

"What? Yeah, of course." He'd let his mind wander, almost forgetting to pay attention to the current situation. He'd heard Rebecca, but he hadn't really listened to what she'd been saying. He sighed, then followed them. He felt like a third wheel being with them, since he really didn't know either of them. The sooner they could reunite with the others, the better.

* * *

On the way back to the mini van, Claire had gotten some time to think. About Steve, about herself… and about Carlos. This time, though, the thoughts about Steve hadn't been the same as usual. Three years had passed since he died, three whole years had she tried to convince others – and herself – that he wasn't dead, that he'd come back to her. But three years had gone by, and he hadn't. It was time for her to move on, to start thinking about what would be best for her. That's why the thoughts about Carlos had made themselves clear. It wasn't until now that she'd let them. Carlos had come to her when she'd needed someone, on the way home from Amy that rainy day. The only thing that Claire had from her short time with Steve was memories, and not pleasant ones at that. She wanted happier memories, the kind that she _did_ want to remember. It was time for her to finally let go of Steve Burnside.  
Rebecca, Billy and Carlos were already by the mini van when Claire, Chris and Jill got there. They all looked the way that Claire felt – relieved. No outbreak, no evil company. They were safe. At least for now.

Chris unlocked the doors, and they all got into the car. "Now let's go home."

* * *

With "home", Chris hadn't meant that all of them should go to their own places – they all got home to him, since he'd wanted to have a meeting to sum up the evening and discuss their next move, if there was a need for that. So there they were, and Carlos sure wasn't complaining. He'd been sure to discreetly sit down beside Claire in the couch.

"The police will probably handle this situation, so what do we do?" Billy asked. "Of course I'm glad that it wasn't an outbreak or something, but still."

"Well," Chris began. "We could see if there are more survivors who we can team up with, and see if they know more than we do about what's happening. If something _is_ happening, that is."

"But they're probably trying to stay off Umbrella's radar too, so won't it be difficult to get in contact with them?" Billy said.

"It's still worth trying." Jill said. "But just how would we be able to reach them?"

Claire spoke up next. "How about the S.T.A.R.S.? I mean, sure, they might not have been in an outbreak, but they can at least fight... Maybe we could start working with some volunteers?"

"That's a great idea, sis." Chris said. "And if we start doing something, the other survivors might contact _us_ instead." He had a look on his face that made Carlos believe that he was already considering different options on how contact the S.T.A.R.S. in the best way.

Carlos figured that since Chris, Jill and Rebecca were former S.T.A.R.S.-members, they had to know at least some people from other teams all over the country. This could indeed prove to be useful. And speaking of Rebecca, she seemed to be remembering everything about the Mansion Incident again all at once by only the mention of the S.T.A.R.S.. Carlos had been told that she was the only survivor of Bravo Team. That must've been very hard on her. Carlos knew what it was like to lose a team-member. The UBSC hadn't been worth much when they were sent to Raccoon City to 'rescue survivors'. But at least something good had come out of that horrible experience; he'd met Jill, which had led to him meeting Claire and the others in their small gang too. Now he was really part of something that would make a change. They'd make sure Umbrella would be nothing more than a memory.

"Now how about we all go to our own places and rest?" Billy asked when no one had said something in a while. "It's enough if only on of us tries to get in contact with other S.T.A.R.S.-" he looked at Chris. "-and we can meet up when we have a plan."

Chris nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a good idea."

Things were surely starting to get brighter for them.

* * *

_A/N: Since I now know where to go from here, next chapter won't take this long to upload. At least I hope it won't XD Lots of thanks goes to yamiishot for the help =D To be continued._


	7. Backup

_A/N: Oooh, look, a new chapter of RAANB! ^^ Hope you'll like it =)_

* * *

**  
Chapter 7 - Backup**

_A few weeks later..._

After what he'd heard about the incident in Raccoon City, Roger McBane hadn't thought he'd hear from his old friend Barry Burton again. Barry and the rest of the surviving members of Raccoon's STARS-team had been suspended since no one had believed what they'd said about Umbrella's part in the matter, and as far as Roger knew, they'd done their very best to stay out of the company's way.

But Barry had indeed called, saying that Roger's help was needed. He hadn't told him much over the phone, only that another friend of Barry's needed all the help they could get. So, here he was - in his car and on his way to the small town Meadow, where Barry's friend would be waiting. But Roger wasn't alone - the former STARS-captain/weapon specialist traveled with two of his former team-mates (the Raccoon STARS weren't the only ones that were shattered after the incident).

The ones that were with him were the two people that Roger trusted the most from his old team, and he'd been glad to hear that they both wanted to come with him. Jonathan Serrano had been the team's medic, as well as the vehicle specialist. He and Roger had known each other some time before they joined STARS. Meya Andrews on the other hand, had been the team's marksman, and even though she was several years younger than John and Roger, she'd never had any problem feeling like one in the gang.

Roger didn't know if he should've asked the rest of the old team to go with him as well, but he'd figured that it was better to keep the group small, with people who he fully trusted. When they arrive in Meadow, he'd see if his decision was the right one.

* * *

_The Redfield Residence, Meadow_

"Thanks for the help, Barry." Chris said before he hung up the phone after a short conversation with his friend, and then turned to face his wife, smiling warmly at her.

"What did he say?" she asked, giving him a good-morning kiss.

"He said that a friend of his, a former STARS captain, is on his way over here with two of his old team-members."

"That's great!" Jill said. "Barry sure has the right contacts."

"Yeah, and this means Claire's visit will be longer than planned. At least I'll know where she is and she's up to if she stays here." They sat down on the couch, Jill pouring him another cup of coffee before he had a chance to do it himself. Jill sure knew him well.

"Speaking of Claire, is she still sleeping?" she said through a yawn. She wasn't completely awake yet herself.

Chris nodded as an answer. "I think so. She's never really been a morning-person." He took a sip of his coffee. "Barry said that his friend will be here sometime around 11:30, so she's still got..." he glanced at the clock on the wall, which was currently showing 8:59am. "More than an hour and a half to get ready. Shouldn't be a problem. I don't know when she went to bed last night..."

"I'm sure she wasn't up after her bedtime." she said with a grin. She'd commented Chris' over-protective behaviour towards his little sister before, but that was just the way Chris was.

"Ha-ha, very funny, Jill." Chris couldn't help but grin himself, although it faded as quick as it had come. "I just want her to be safe..."

"Yeah, I know that, Chris. Claire knows t too. And she _is_ safe, thanks to you. Just try not to overdo is again." she stood up. "Well, time for me to get ready." she gave her husband a kiss and stopped by the kitchen to leave her coffee mug before heading to her closet.

Chris leaned back in the couch, coffee mug still in hand, his thoughts racing. He sighed.

* * *

"This must be it." Roger said when he'd stopped outside an apartment building. He'd gotten some directions from Barry in how to find his friend's home, and it had led them to a small apartment building. Though, it seemed to be one of those where the different apartments have two floors to feel more like houses to its inhabitants.

"I say we go and find out." Meya said. "Sure beats sitting here in the car all day, doesn't it?" she grinned. The drive to Meadow sure had been long.

"Let's see..." Jonathan said, examining the notes given by Barry. "Says here it's supposed to be the second door in that one row over there." he pointed.

"Okay then." Roger said. "Time to find a good place to park the car. Looks full here..."

* * *

"I'll get it!" Claire called as the doorbell rang. She hurried to the front door, and when she opened it, Chris was right behind her. Three strangers were waiting outside - two men and a woman.

"Hi, I'm Roger McBane." one of the men said before Claire or Chris had a chance to greet them. "You must be the Redfield-siblings. Barry has told me a lot about you both." he smiled.

"Yeah, hi. I'm Chris, and this is my sister, Claire. Come in!" they stepped aside from the door, letting Roger and his friends enter. "The others are in the living room, this way." Chris lead the way, while Claire stayed in the hallway.

"Roger, Meya and Jonathan, this is Rebecca, Billy, Carlos and my wife, Jill." Chris pointed at them in order. "Sit down and make yourselves at home."

* * *

"Hey Claire, can I talk to you for a second?" Carlos had wondered where she went since the rest of them where in the living room. He'd found her sitting by the kitchen table.

"Yeah sure, sit down." she replied. The two of them had gotten along quite well the last few weeks. Since they hadn't had been out on any missions or anything like that, they'd gotten some time to just focus on living their lives as usual. And luckily, Chris didn't seem to have anything against Carlos being friends with his sister anymore.

"Why aren't you in there with the others?" Carlos asked.

Claire sighed, shaking her head. "I just... wanted a little time to think, I guess."

"Steve again?"

Claire looked at him and nodded. "I try not to think about him. But every time the doorbell rings..."

"...You hope that it'll be him." Carlos finished, feeling a sting of jealousy. He hadn't told her that he didn't want want to be just friends... "If he's out there somewhere, we'll find him. If not - well, you've still got me." he smiled.

"Thanks." Claire smiled back.

"Come on, let's see what they're planning in there."

* * *

When Carlos came back to the living room with Claire, Chris nodded at him. He'd gotten a new view of the man after seeing how he treated her. It was obvious that Carlos really cared about her, and Jill had made him change his opinion when she'd pointed that out to him. "Roger here just told us about what he thinks is an Umbrella-owned facility on the east coast."

"We can't be sure that it's owned by Umbrella until we get there though." Meya said. "These files were mostly based on rumors..." they'd brought a couple of papers containing some information about the place, which surely didn't look like an Umbrella-facility on the outside. Then again, they never did, nowadays.

"We'll make some preparations, and then check it all out as soon as possible." Chris said. "This information is at least a good start."

"Has there been any form of accidents in there?" Carlos asked, and Roger replied.

"No, not that we know of, anyway. We've been gathering as much information about it as we've could these last couple of weeks, but it all seems to be running smoothly... If it's Umbrella, we'll put an end to that."

"Okay, Rebecca and Jonathan, you should discuss what medicinal supplies we should bring, while Roger and I discuss the best way to plan this." Chris said after a moment of silence. "The rest of you... either you stay and listen - maybe even come with some suggestions - or you can do what you want until it's time to talk about weapons. We have to be as prepared as we possibly can for whatever it is that's waiting for us when we arrive."

* * *

_A/N: Roger, Meya and Jonathan are a few OCs who actually belong in a "book" I'm working on. Figured it'd be fun to throw them into this story too~ =3 And yes, Chris and Jill are married. I'd almost forgotten I'd mentioned that in the second chapter XD  
Anyways, I'll start working on the next chapter as soon as I can. To be continued~ _


	8. It All Begins

_A/N: I've been working with this chapter for a much too long time. I've had a clear view of what I wanted to happen in it, for almost the whole chapter. I just never took enough time to sit down and actually write. But here it is, chapter 8!_

* * *

**Chapter 8 - It All Begins  
**

He was well aware that he'd gotten some weird glances after saying how far away he wanted to put up the security cameras, his argument being that it'd be best to spot any intruders early on in their attack. He knew that his past was enough to convince anyone to do what he told them, but the glances hadn't gotten better after he'd said he also wanted the cameras as much hidden as possible. _"No one will ever find this place"_ he'd been told. _"No one would think this is owned by Umbrella."_ But he'd made them listen. The cameras were up and running, and even he was far away for the moment, he could still monitor the area. And it seemed like the cameras had indeed been a good decision.

* * *

Claire got a feeling of déjà vu when Chris went through the information they had about this facility, letting them all know what they might be up for once inside. They were now standing between their two vehicles, with the faint moonlight as their only lightsource. They all had a flashlight each, but they wanted to make their way inside without getting noticed. They'd parked the cars somewhat far away from where the facility should be located according to what little information they had. The journey to this possible facility had been long and they all felt the need to stretch their legs. Good thing they had along walk in front of them...

"So," Chris spoke up, and Claire once again turned her attention to her older brother. "we'll have the same two groups as last time - Jill and Claire will go with me and Jonathan will join us. Meya and Roger, you two will be with Billy, Rebecca and Carlos. Is that okay with everyone?"

He looked around at all of them, but Claire couldn't help notice that he looked at Carlos for just a little bit longer. The man met his gaze before he looked away. Claire glanced at him, seeing that he surely wasn't happy with the groups. Yet, he didn't say a thing, just like the rest of them.

"Very well then." Chris said finally. "Get your gear and then we'll move in. We'll go in all together and then split up once we get inside the complex.

* * *

It seemed like he'd decided to check the cameras at the right time. His small pocket-sized monitor screen had been expensive, sure, but it now proved to be totally worth it. A small group of people were moving in the direction of the complex, weapons in hand. He saw a few familiar faces - Chris Redfield, his sister Claire, and Jill Valentine. He had no idea who the others were, but he doubted they'd give him any trouble. But just to be on the safe side...  
He clicked his small earpiece, which directly let him talk to the man in charge while he was away.

"Rivers, you'll soon have some company over there, a group of intruders. You may in no way hurt them, I'll take care of them myself once the time is right. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" Rivers replied.

* * *

Carlos and the others moved through the woods quietly and they'd yet to encounter any danger. So far, so good. They all had their ears and eyes open, determined to see whatever might be lurking in the woods before it spotted them. Soon enough, they reached the coordinates for the possible facility, and the tall walls of the three-story building came into view. No fence, no other means of security - were they really at the right place? Carlos doubted it. _But what if that is the point?_, Carlos thought. _That they want people to believe that nothing is going on here?_ It wouldn't susprise him. As they got even closer, Carlos noticed that there _had_ been a fence up around the building at one point - a few of the poles still stood in the ground. The wind blew through the trees, leaves falling off the branches. They all took a careful step past the former fence -

* * *

- And at the same time, deep underground, an alarm sounded. _They're here_, Alan Rivers thought, his heart beating faster. _Now I just need to make sure that everyone keeps following his directions..._

Rivers had watched the camera monitors after he'd gotten the call, keeping an eye on the intruders. But from the look on their faces, he'd been sure they'd turn around and give up. But the alarm was proof enough that they weren't walking away that easily. _Let this game begin... _His orders was to not hurt them, but Rivers couldn't possibly make a promise like that, no matter who was asking him for it. When they'd entered the building, he'd make sure they were all trapped. Rivers knew that _he_ would be thankful for this. After all, wasn't this what he'd always wanted? Hadn't he let Rivers know that when he gave him this promotion? Rivers was sure he couldn't just be imagining it all.

* * *

"I'm telling you, I haven't got a good feeling about this at all!" Claire said. "Something is just wrong about this all..."

"Come on, Claire." her brother said. "This is clearly not an Umbrella-facility, so we have absolutely nothing to worry about. We just go inside, check out all of the floors, look for any clues of possible former activity, and then we're gonna go back home. Simple as that."

Claire just shook her head. "This place _looks_ abandoned, but how can we be sure it really is?"

"We can't," Jonathan replied, "unless we go in there, which I'm all for. We came all this way, and I ain't gonna turn around now if we can find something useful in there."

"He's right, Claire." Jill said, smiling reassuringly. "It's too late to turn back now."

Claire sighed. "Okay, I get it, I am outnumbered here." she grinned. "I'll just keep my eyes really open..."

"Good." Chris said, nodding. "Now let's move."

The building had - as Carlos noticed when he glanced up - a few broken windows, an the roof seemed to be in quite the same shape in different places. It all gave off that feeling of being abandoned. Still, Carlos was very suspicious. He guessed he was the one who had really taken Claire's words seriously. They had no way of knowing if it really was empty. _What do we do if the door is-_

"I'll take care of the door if it comes to that." Jill said quietly, her face turned to Chris.

Carlos hadn't even had time to get halfway through the sentence. For a minute, he'd forgotten that she was good with lock-picks. She'd told him at some point that her dad had taught her, but he didn't really know the reasons behind that.

Jill's husband gave another nod in reply. "No door can ever stand a chance against you." he smiled, and Jill grinned.

"It doesn't seem like the door will give us any trouble at all." Meya said, pointing at the open door frame. The door was completely gone, nowhere to be seen.

"I'll go in first." Roger said. "Jonathan, cover me." he walked carefully towards the door, stepping up the three small steps to do so. He held his gun at the ready, glancing around in the room. It was dark, and the hallway floor was covered by leaves. He looked back at the others, nodded shortly to Chris, looked at Jonathan, then stepped inside. The rest of the group followed them, after they'd gotten a 'clear' from the two men.

The long hallway lead into a smaller room, with three doors on different sides of it. This time, it actually _were_ doors, and not just empty door frames. _Two groups, three doors..._ Carlos thought. _Wonder what's behind them..._ Yet, he wasn't so sure he wanted to know. Truth was, none of them did.

* * *

_A/N: So the plot thickens, sort of. Hope you enjoyed reading this =) To be continued~_


	9. Falling For You

_A/N: I think I broke a new record of how many words I can misspell in one chapter... XD Anyway, sorry it's taken me so long to update! =0 I was stuck in a place, and the ever so lovely yamiishot suggested I'd simply skip that scene. It all went easier after that ^^ I managed to write as much as 3 and half handwritten A4 pages last night. But enough about that, here's the new chapter! =D Enjoy~_

* * *

**Chapter 9 - Falling For You  
**

Alan Rivers had worked for the Umbrella Corporation for several years. He was no longer as young as he once used to be, his hair turning more and more grey as the days passed by. Through his many years with the company, he'd always been... _fascinated_ by the viruses they'd developed, and what said viruses were capable of doing. Those creatures that were called "lickers", for example... Rivers had always seen them as far more superior than those darn "hunters". He'd seen both types of creatures in the fight simulator for his research, and compared to the hunters - which, honestly, looked like over-sized frogs to him - the lickers were far more agile. They could climb in the _ceiling_ for crying out loud. What could a _frog_ ever do to top that?

"I know you won't ever fail me..." Rivers whispered, watching the currently sedated licker in the glass cage in front of him. The rest of the staff were already down in the far lower levels, probably doing some paperwork. Rivers, on the other hand, was in the holding room for the Bio Organic Weapons in basement level 3. "I'll let you come out and play soon enough my dear. Just you wait..."

* * *

"It's a lot darker in here than I thought it would be..." Jonathan mumbled, and Claire glanced over at him.

"That's why we have the flashlights, right?" Billy said, turning his on. They were all still in the hallway of the building, deciding which door to begin with. They had three different options, and since they were divided into two groups, one door would be left untouched at first. What if something important was in any of the rooms behind it? They wouldn't have to worry about that for a long time though...

"Okay," Chris spoke up, half-startling his younger sister. She'd been busy searching the area with her own flashlight. It wasn't really the biggest hall, but it was enough to keep her mind interested for at least a while. "Time to start... Jill, Claire and Jonathan - we go right. Billy, Rebecca, Meya, Roger and Carlos - you go left. Keep your radios on the ready, okay? Move out."

* * *

Carlos nodded when Chris was done talking. He wasn't all too happy not being able to be with Claire this time either, but he couldn't really do anything about that now. So he followed Billy and the others. The left door led into an empty room that looked just as old and forgotten as the rest of the place. The next room though, seemed to be more interesting... A big part of the ceiling had fallen down, and considering the thick layer of dust on top of all of the raffle and broken planks, it had happened a long time ago. And more important - it was blocking their way. They couldn't possibly move everything, so the best they could to was to either try to find a way around it, or just simply go back into the hallway and enter the middle door.

"We should let Chris and the others know about this..." Carlos said, taking out his radio. "But we seem to have another problem." he said after a few seconds. As if the blocked way wasn't enough already. "My radio doesn't work, I can't contact Chris or any of the others at all."

"I'll give it a try." Meya said, but she didn't have any better luck. "Ugh, what's wrong with them? They worked just fine before we got here..."

"Maybe that's the problem." Rebecca said. "Someone might've blocked the communications or something. Mine doesn't work either." she sighed.

Roger nodded. "That must be it. One of us will have to run to the others and tell them that this place might be ready to fall apart any second. We should get finished in here as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the rest will check out the last door in the hallway. Anyone volunteering to make the run?"

"I'll do it." Carlos said. "I won't be long."

"Very well then." Roger said. "We'll wait for you in the first room beyond that door."

"Right." Carlos said as he turned around and left his group.

* * *

The layout of the building reminded Jill a bit too much about the mansion in Raccoon City. She'd held her breath while they moved down a corridor that had the same shape as the one in old mansion. The one where those eerie dogs had jumped through the windows. The only thing that had joined them in the corridor this time though was the wind that was blowing in through the since long broken windows.

The room they entered after the corridor was empty, and it reminded Jill of the room she'd almost been killed in. By the falling ceiling. She still had the layout of some parts of the Spencer Mansion fresh in her memory, even though it had gone four years since they all set their foot in the hall, without knowing that they'd just entered one of their worst nightmares. As if being chased by those darn dogs hadn't been enough. Even though this empty room had a lot in common with the trap she'd been in, the layout of this place was completely different. As far as she remembered, that room hadn't been after the corridor with the dogs. She shook her head, none of that mattered for the moment.

Now, they were in a room filled with expensive-looking paintings and statues. It seemed like no one had been in there for decades.

"I don't think we're at the right place..." Jill said after a few minutes. There was nothing of interest to be found in the room, and she doubted the rest of the place was any different.

"Yeah, I get the same feeling." her husband replied. "We should head back and see if the others have any more luck than us." he stood up. He'd been examining one of the many vases on the floor.

"Wait..." Claire said, and Jill looked at her. "I hear something..."

Chris heard it too - the distant sound of footsteps, coming their way. He moved to stand in the doorway, gun at the ready. A few seconds later, Carlos entered the empty room they'd been in earlier.

"Hey, it's only me!" Carlos said when he saw Chris's raised weapon.

"Has anything happened?" Chris asked and lowered his gun as he stepped aside to let Carlos enter.

"We tried to contact you via the radio, but it wouldn't work." Carlos said. "We believe that someone or something has cut off that kind of contact."

"We were just on our way to find you." Jill said. "I don't think we'll find anything in at least this part of the building..."

Carlos nodded. "We should all stick together, this place could fall apart at any moment, it's not safe here at all."

"Yeah, we should probably get out of here fast." Chris said, and got nods in reply as the group moved to the door. "Claire, are you coming?"

The younger Redfield had been in the far corner of the big room, where she'd been examining some of the paintings that were leaned to the wall and covered by a cloth until Carlos had arrived. Now, she was putting them back in order. The rest of the group were already out in the corridor, but Carlos had stayed behind, waiting for Claire to come with them, hoping to get to spend at least a little more time with her.

"Yeah, on my way!" she called after them. But as she took a few steps forwards, she heard a ominous sound. The floor beneath her gave in, and she was falling.

"Claire!" Carlos screamed when he saw her fall through the floor. Without thinking twice, he rushed forward and jumped down after her.

* * *

"I'm sure she's alright, Chris." Jill said reassuringly. Jonathan had gone back to get Rebbeca, Billy, Roger and Meya after Claire had fallen. Now, they were all waiting in the very same room - waiting for any new information from her and Carlos. According to them, it had been a somewhat long fall, and Claire had hurt her foot badly when she'd landed. Chris had wanted to jump down after them too, but Jill had stopped him, saying that it could be dangerous ("That's exactly why I want to be there with her!"),that Carlos would take good care of his sister ("...I guess you're right", Chris had mumbled reluctantly).

Claire and Carlos had gone away in one of the two different directions in what seemed to be an underground corridor. The lights were all out, and the two had said they'd be back after examining the new area. But Chris thought it had gone too long since they went.

"You know you can't go down there, Chris." Billy said. "Our safest bet is to to find a better way to get to them."

Rebecca nodded in agreement. "If there is a place like that below this floor, it may very well be an underground laboratory, possibly Umbrella-owned."

"If you're right, there must be a way they used to get there." Chris said. "We have to find it as fast as we can. We can't just sit here and wait."

* * *

"Can't we rest for at least a little while longer?" Claire asked, and Carlos looked at her.

"Of course we can." he replied. "How is your foot? I'm not a medic, but it was all I could do." They'd stopped after walking fairly long, and even though Carlos had helped her as much as he could to not put too much weight on her injured foot, it hurt. They were sitting next to each other, backs leaned against the wall. Their flashlights wasn't really a great source of light, but it was better than the complete darkness that would otherwise surround them. Carlos had tried to make a makeshift bandage out of his white t-shirt, but he knew it wasn't enough to ease the pain in her foot. He'd helped Claire take off her boot as soon as she'd told him that he'd landed on it. He just wished he'd asked Rebecca to teach him how to treat injuries like this, or that he'd at least paid more attention to those PE-classes...

"No, it's okay... I mean, it still hurts, but it's a bit better." Claire replied. "Thanks for jumping after me, I wouldn't have wanted to be down here alone."

"Don't worry about it, I would've been worried sick if I hadn't." he stroke a hand through his hair.

"I know..." Claire mumbled. She also knew that her brother probably wished he'd been the one to jump. But Claire would rather have Carlos with her. She didn't doubt for a second that he wouldn't leave her if they were to face any danger. The fact that he'd actually jumped into complete darkness for her obviously proved it.

"I don't think your brother would be happy if he found out that your 'bandage' is actually my t-shirt..." he grinned, and Claire laughed.

"Yeah, good thing your jacket hides the fact that you don't have it on anymore..." Claire glanced at him, and they both smiled.

"Claire, I..." Carlos started, but decided this wasn't the time for what he was about to say. "...Nevermind. Maybe we should try to get back to where we fell down, before the others worry too much?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." she couldn't stop wondering what it was that he'd really wanted to say, even though she had an idea of what it could be.

Carlos stood up, turned off his flashlight and put it in one of the big pockets of his pants. He reached out a hand to help Claire up. She took it, and let him drag her up to her feet, her flashlight in her other hand. He helped her put her free arm around his shoulders, and unholstered his gun, making sure it was secured. It wasn't the best way of walking, but with Claire's injured foot, it was all they could do. Besides, they'd kind of gotten a hang of it by now. They'd left Claire's boot where they'd landed, since they couldn't carry it with them. She'd figured it wasn't really that big off a loss if she couldn't get it with her, even though she really liked those boots. She just hoped she wouldn't accidentally set down her bandaged foot in broken glass or anything worse.

"Hey, Carlos?" Claire said carefully as they walked. "What was it that you tried to say back there?"

"Oh, um... Is it okay if we talk about that later?" he smiled.

"Yeah, sure..." Claire replied. "Oh, there's my boot!" she pointed. It lay in the faint ray of light that was coming through the hole in the ceiling.

"We're back now, Chris!" Carlos called up. No answer. "Are you there?"

"Do you think something might've happened to them?" Claire said worryingly.

"I don't know, but I think we'd better get a move on and try to get out of her quickly.

"Right." Claire said. _Where are you Chris? I thought-  
_  
"Claire, did you hear that?" Carlos's whispering interrupted her thoughts.

"Hear what?" she whispered. "Oh, _that_ sound!"

Carlos didn't like the look of fear in her eyes. The sound was coming from the part of the underground corridor they hadn't been in yet. "What is it?" Carlos thought it sounded almost like... talons? Could that really be it? What in the world could ever make a sound like that? It was a very faint sound, but it still sent shivers down his spine.

"It's big, big trouble. I'll explain later, we should get out of here right _now!_" Claire replied.

He didn't need to be told twice, they turned around, and ran as fast as Claire's injured foot allowed them to. He just hoped that whatever it was that was making the sound wouldn't be quick... If he only knew how wrong he was.

* * *

_A/N: If that ending ain't a cliffhanger, I don't know what is X) Hope you liked the chapter.  
I wish you all a Happy New Year, and I'll see you again in 2011! ^^ To be continued~ _


	10. The Descent

_A/N: If the last chapter had the most misspelled words ever before I ran it through a spellchecker, this one had the least. Improvements, haha. Once again, I'd like to thank yamiishot for giving me the ideas for this fanfic in the first place ^^__  
My first chapter of 2011. Hope you'll like it =)_

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Descent**

Turning off the power in the first basement level sure had been a great idea. The lights were of course out, and the electronically locked doors could by no means be opened. Rivers was indeed sure that the group of intruders would leave as soon as they found the pair that was currently in the darkened corridors. But he was also sure that _he_ had some secret motive with this plan... So, Rivers had let one of his lovely lickers out. He thought it gave a nice twist to the situation, and he really enjoyed watching it go through the dark on his many monitors. Rivers knew that he had to contact _him_ about the licker. He didn't doubt he'd be promoted after that masterstroke. But the call would have to wait. At least for now - it hadn't been long since he'd gotten the instructions to darken the level. Rivers had been told that _he_ didn't want to be disturbed if it wasn't an emergency. So Rivers decided to wait and simply enjoy the show.

* * *

"I think we might be safe in here... for a while..." Claire said quietly. She and Carlos had escaped into the first open door that they'd found. Hopefully, that creature wouldn't find them any time soon.

"Claire, what was that? What would make those kind of clicking noises?" Carlos was searching the room with his flashlight as he spoke. It looked like just another corridor, even though this one seemed to be smaller than the one they'd just left.

"So... I guess you didn't hear that awful hissing that came with it?" Claire smiled weakly. "I thought I'd seen the last of them in Raccoon City... If that really was what I think it was, this place is definitely Umbrella's."

"Have you seen that before?" Carlos glanced at her.

She nodded. "Aside from the zombies and the crows, those were the first monsters I saw in Raccoon..." she shuddered involuntarily by simply thinking about them.

Carlos said nothing. He figured that whether he wanted it or not, he'd probably see it for himself eventually. Umbrella seldom had only one of each creation. Except for the giant that had been chasing him and Jill all through Raccoon City and nearly killed them both. He'd been praying that there would only be one of that monster.

"I think we should get going again." Claire mumbled. "Before it brings its friends..."

The first door in the new corridor was locked as well, and Claire was losing her hopes about ever finding a way out of this place. So far, none of the doors had even had a keyhole. Though, they had more luck with the next one. Disappointingly enough, it was only a storage room.

"There might be something interesting hidden in here." Carlos said, looking at the many shelves and drawers in the small room. "Files, a map of the area, a free-pass to the outside..." he sighed. "But I guess all the important things are behind those locked doors."

Claire nodded. "Probably, which is why we should really find a way to get inside and dig up as much as we can."

Yeah, but getting back to your brother and the others is still our top priority, right?"

"Of course it is! But... do you think they're trying to get down to us, or are they waiting for us to get back up?" Claire asked.

"I don't know." Carlos replied. "I guess we'll see once we get back up."

* * *

"Now that was a challenge..." Chris mumbled. After a lot of time and effort, they'd found a possible way down. They had looked through the whole first floor, without finding even the slightest sign of information about how to get down to the lower floor. A staircase going upwards could though be found, even though a lot of the steps were completely damaged and torn apart. Just like the rest of the house. It was way too dangerous to even set a foot in it. The other door in the room with the staircase didn't have a keyhole and it was impossible to get it opened. It had almost been an act of desperation when Chris had told the others that their last hope for the moment was the room where the ceiling had fallen in. But despite how unlikely that decision may have seemed like, it had been a good one. It had taken a long time, but since they all worked together, they had been able to move enough of the planks and raffle blocking their way t be able to get past it. An elevator was set in the far wall of the room they were now able to enter.

"Yeah, sure was." Billy replied. "At least we found a way down." It wouldn't really have been fun for anyone if Chris's idea would've turned out to be a complete waste of both time and effort. Especially since no other part of the house had any way for them getting to the lower levels.

* * *

While examining his graying hair in his pocket mirror, Rivers suddenly realized that for some reason, almost all mad scientist had gray hair (at least that's what he thought). But Rivers wasn't mad. Oh no, he was perfectly sane. He chuckled to himself as he watched the intruders on his monitors. They were trying to use the elevator to go back up. That they even _thought_ he'd let them go that easily. Sure, they were never supposed to find the elevator in the first place, not even the lower levels, but he couldn't let this exciting opportunity slip away. And even more, the lickers were getting impatient...

The elevator that they'd found was the one that the Umbrella-staff used to get down to the labs. Rivers had thought it was very amusing to watch them take away a lot of the things that was blocking it - the staff just used their card keys by the door that didn't have a keyhole. The card reader was, apparently, well-hidden. While the intruders had "cleared" the corridor, they'd muttered about the house being so broken. Truth was, it had taken _months_ of preparations to make it look as run-down as it was. Rivers actually looked forward to telling them that before he let the beautiful lickers have their fun. Sure, Rivers had been told by _him_ not to hurt them, but oh, this plan was indeed a lot more interesting than having them simply walk away. And of course, it was too late to change this now. After all, he'd gotten this responsibility for a reason. He was sure that _he_ would promote him once _he_ heard what Rivers had done. Oh, he looked forward to that moment. _Soon_, Rivers thought, watching the intruders step out of the elevator in the first basement level. _Very soon..._

* * *

"No luck here anyway..." Carlos mumbled. They had searched through the small storage room from top to bottom, and the only thing of use that they'd found was a lantern. At least it wouldn't be as dark anymore when they had it. It almost seemed like the whole room had been cleared out of all important things.

"Maybe we should try at a better place." Claire sighed. They made their way to the door, and when they got out in the hallway, they found themselves face to face with -

"Chris!" Claire said happily as she reached out to hug her brother.

"Are you both okay?" the older Redfield asked.

Claire nodded. "Completely unharmed, except for my foot."

"Let us have a look at it." Rebecca said, motioning for Jonathan to join them. The three of them sat down on the floor with the lit lantern beside them, and the two medics examined Claire's foot, talking quietly about what they thought as to not disturb any possible conversations by the others.

"How did you get down here?" Carlos asked.

"We found an elevator." Jill replied, gesturing towards a hidden passage in the wall by the door. It would of course have been impossible for Claire and Carlos to see it in the light from their flashlights earlier. "It seemed safe enough, and now that we've found you two, we can get out of this place."

"I sure want to get out of here." Claire said. "But we think this really is an Umbrella-facility."

"What makes you think that?" Chris asked. His sister looked up at him.

"We heard something out in the other corridor." Carlos replied.

"I believe it was one of the monsters I met back in Raccoon." Claire said.

"I see. But if it is Umbrella, we have to stop them and whatever is going on here."

Claire sighed, but didn't say anything. No one did. They all knew that it was what they had to do.

"Hey, Carlos..." Rebecca said after a few minutes of silence. The man looked at her. "What did you use to make the bandage?"

"You know, it almost looks like-" Jonathan didn't get to finish his sentence before Claire interrupted him. Still, he had an amused look on his face.

"Do you think there are more underground levels here?" she said quickly to change the subject.

"I suppose so." her brother answered. "We'll have to find that out by ourselves."

Claire was relieved that no one seemed to care about why exactly Rebecca's question hadn't been answered, or why Jonathan had been interrupted so suddenly, but that he clearly didn't mind.

Carlos closed his jacket a bit more by the neck. Jill was the only one who seemed to have noticed that motion. Putting two and two together, she grinned, but she said nothing. She was happy that she'd introduced Carlos to their Anti-Umbrella group. Chris, of course, hadn't been thrilled by the fact that he had been part of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (UBSC for short). Jill had told her husband repeatedly that Carlos hadn't known about Umbrella's actions, that he had nothing to do with anything that the company had done. The message had finally gone through at last, but Chris still kept an eye on the man. Jill was sure that Chris wouldn't really be thrilled if he too found out what the bandage really was. She'd have to talk to him about it later anyway, to try and calm him down when the anger hit. But now was certainly not the time.

"Um..." Meya said. "We have a problem."

* * *

_A/N: Hehe, I do like ending my chapters with cliffhangers~ Hope you enjoyed reading this =)  
To_ be continued~


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